BEA chief upbeat despite falling sales

NEWS Application server specialist BEA has reported a 10 per cent drop in sales for the three months to 31 January 2002, a fall that was in line with analyst expectations. The company saw an even more dramatic dip in profits that fell from $26.5m a year ago to $11.5m today. Despite the news, BEA founder, president and CEO Alfred Chuang was in upbeat mood insisting the results were "impressive" in the current economic conditions. In a statement, Chuang said: "By winning more than 10,000 deals in the last year, it is clear we have won in the application server market. As we expand to the broader application infrastructure market, we are taking the lead in making web services ready for the enterprise." For more on application servers,